The Portsmouth Sinfonia was a musical group founded by English composer Gavin Bryars, while teaching at Portsmouth School of Art in the early 1970s.
Unlike the usual orchestra, which goes to some lengths to pick competent musicians, Bryars was more interested in experimenting with the nature of music; in this case, what would an orchestra sound like if anyone could join, complete nonmusicians as well as musicians of any level of talent and experience. The only rules were that everyone had to come for rehearsals, and people should try their best to get it right and not try to sound silly.
The repertoire of the Sinfonia was the standard classical repertoire, so that most people had an idea of what the piece, or at least famous parts of it, should sound like; even if they could not play their chosen instrument accurately, they would at least have an idea that they should be going higher at one part then lower at another, and so on, so that the ensemble would produce 'clouds of sound' giving an average impression of the piece. Many modern composers and musicians found this to be interesting and even profound; the fact that it came out rather funny was a bonus. Brian Eno was interested enough to join the orchestra, playing clarinet.
The group tried other experiments as well; such as the orchestra playing the introduction to a Schumannconcerto, while a pianist played the opening bars of the Grieg piano concerto.
Their album, "Portsmouth Sinfonia Plays the Popular Classics" was released in 1973. At the height of their popularity, they played a concert at the Royal Albert Hall with conductor John Farley, which sold thousands of tickets.
External links
Six famous orchestral 'warhorses' by the Portsmouth Sinfonia in streaming Real Audio format, optimized for 56k connections (http://www.miserablemelodies.com/cgi-bin/cgiwrap/miserabl/search.pl?search=portsmouth).
The PortsmouthSinfonia is unusual among orchestras in that it does not require members to display any particular proficiency in their instrument of choice.
The Sinfonia started out as an experimental scratch orchestra and would have languished forever in the obscurity which musical purists can only believe it deserves, were it not for their visionary recordings of popular classics, most notably a medley entitled Classical Muddly, a spoof on the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra's abysmal Hooked on Classics.
The idea behind the PortsmouthSinfonia was apparently to reclaim classical music from the tuxedo-nazis, and place it in the hands of people who loved the music for its own sake.
The PortsmouthSinfonia was a musical group founded by English composer Gavin Bryars and several of his students, while he was teaching at Portsmouth School of Art in Portsmouth, England, in 1970.
Their album, PortsmouthSinfonia Plays the Popular Classics was released in 1973.
On May 28, 1974, at the height of their popularity, they played a concert at the Royal Albert Hall with conductor John Farley, which sold thousands of tickets.
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